


Dax shifted in her seat...

by Blu3fairy



Series: Garashir ficlets [3]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 03:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13045797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blu3fairy/pseuds/Blu3fairy
Summary: Garashir ficlet





	Dax shifted in her seat...

**Author's Note:**

> I have posted a few ficlets to my tumblr (joeyfalconetti) and thought I would save them here. I'm hoping it encourages me to write more...

Dax shifted in her seat on the runabout. The trip to rendezvous with the Defiant was a short one, but it had been uncomfortable so far.

The mission had been a success. Benjamin, Kira, O’Brien, Julian and Garak were all safely retrieved from the cavern where they had been held by the Dominion. It had been disturbing to see them all laid out on tables around the room, unconscious with blinking contraptions attached to their heads. The Dominion plan was clever and the simulated realities that the captors had been fed were apparently convincing.

O’Brien spoke to Dax wistfully of his experience, being assigned back to Earth in a low stress environment while Keiko was given a dream job that delighted her. He told Dax of a cozy and happy life with their children. Clearly, the acceptance of the simulations as reality was helped along greatly by the subject’s strong desire to believe in them. The goal had been to convince them that they were safe and happy, that the Dominion threat had passed and that any information they shared about Starfleet strategy and intelligence was no longer relevant.

Dax didn’t push any of the others to talk about their experiences.

She gave Benjamin a wide berth. At his first opportunity for semi-privacy, collapsing in to a seat on the runabout and turning away from the others, Dax had seen him weep silently at his loss. She hated to think of what illusions he could have been fed that caused him such grief now that they had been torn away.

Kira responded to her own return to reality by being terse and irritable. When Dax had insisted on examining her with a medical tricorder, Kira turned her head away and Dax could have sworn she saw the other woman’s face flush.

As for Julian and Garak, both men were uncharacteristically quiet after their retrieval and during the ride back. They sat as far away from each other as possible and each avoided looking at or speaking to the other.

Eying Julian and Garak, Dax’s mind returned to something that had puzzled her. She had watched as the system running the simulations had been disengaged, the captors stirring awake and blinking in disorientation when they regained consciousness. The process of each simulation shutting down one by one was distinct both in the monitor displays and in the waking captives. The odd thing was that there were five prisoners, yet Dax was sure that she only saw four simulations running.


End file.
